Monday, August 15, 2011

As you head out for those fun summer activities, you might want to double check your car?s back seat.

Parked cars can quickly become ovens in the summer heat, posing a major health threat to children who are forgotten or play in unattended vehicles. Pets also are vulnerable as drivers overestimate their own ability to multitask.

Last year, 49 U.S. children died of vehicular heatstroke, and 16 have succumbed so far this year, according to KidsAndCars.org, a nonprofit child-safety group in Leawood, Kan. More than 500 children have died in hot cars since 2008.

No parent wants to think this could happen to him or her, but it?s easier than you might think to forget a child in the back seat. Stress, sleep deprivation and changes in routine are part of the job description of parenthood, but they can stack the deck against overtaxed brains, sometimes with tragic results.

Taking a few common-sense precautions can make the difference between life and death, according to child health and memory experts. What people don't understand is this is not a failure of love, said Janette Fennell, founder of KidsAndCars.org. This is a failure of our memories.

Memory lapses

About 35 to 40 children die every year because they were accidentally left behind by otherwise good parents whose memories failed them, said David Diamond, a neuroscience professor in the psychology department at the University of South Florida in Tampa. The problem is particularly acute in Texas and Florida.

Diamond has studied more than 50 such cases and in all of them there was a change in routine or a perfect storm, combining stress and sleep deprivation. I've never seen a case where a parent simply forgets and there's nothing out of the ordinary going on, he said. The brain under stress often defaults to a memory system that lets people perform habits, like going to work without stopping at day care without thinking about them, Diamond said.

Sue Hubbard, a spokeswoman for the American Academy of Pediatrics and a pediatrician in Dallas, said she discusses the issue with parents during the summer months. A few years ago, a child in her group's practice died in a hot car.

Children are more vulnerable to heatstroke than adults because their bodies can't yet regulate temperature as well. Heatstroke, also known as hyperthermia, is different from having a fever, Hubbard said.

In the summer, caregivers should take children out of the car no matter how quick the errand, she said. Don't even go into the cleaners and leave your child in the car, because it can happen in minutes. Hubbard advises parents who discover their child is missing to check the pool first if they have one, then the car. Don't be afraid to dial 911. A child who's suffering from heatstroke needs emergency medical attention.

New automobile features

KidsAndCars.org wants technological solutions such as having cars come equipped with seat-belt reminders for all seating positions. Weight-sensing devices in the back seat then could do double duty to alert parents when a child is still strapped in, Fennell said.

In June, two children died in Indiana after getting into the trunk of a 2000 Chevrolet Malibu in an incident eerily similar to one that happened in 2009, she said. KidsAndCars.org renewed pressure on General Motors to recall its 2000 and 2001 vehicles with trunks and retrofit them with an internal glow-in-the dark trunk release, a federally mandated standard for all cars sold or leased in the U.S since 2002.

They said they were being the leader and they did nothing, Fennell said of GM's early promises after 11 children died of trunk entrapment in its vehicles in the summer of 1998. KidsAndCars.org offers a trunk-release kit for $9.99 on its website. GM has no plans to recall and retrofit its older-model cars with the releases but does educational outreach through the organization Safe Kids Worldwide, Washington, D.C.-based spokeswoman Carolyn Markey said. We think awareness is an important component in this issue, Markey said. It's an avoidable tragedy and we're trying hard to help parents.?

Tips to keep kids safe

To protect your child from car-related heatstroke:

-- Put something in the back seat that you will need when you arrive at your destination. It could be a cell phone, purse or briefcase, and its placement should force you to see your child.

-- Keep a teddy bear or toy in the front passenger seat any time a child is riding in the back to remind yourself.

-- Have your day-care provider agree to call you at all your phone numbers if your child doesn?t show up for day care. Better yet, call the provider yourself and confirm that your child has made it if you have a change in your drop-off routine.

-- Keep your car locked with the windows up even in the driveway and garage. Keep keys and key fobs out of reach since children are adept at getting in.

ODESSA, TX- Four members of the Odessa Fire Department worked for about 15 minutes Wednesday at 519 N. Grant Ave. to open a locked Jeep with a baby inside before an employee with Pop-A-Lock® arrived and opened the door in a few seconds.

The mother of the child said the car locked after she finished strapping her child into her car seat located behind the driver’s seat. With keys sitting in the front, the mother said she closed the back door and tried to open the driver door, only to find it locked.

The child, a girl less than 1-year-old, sat in her seat with a small-battery operated fan blowing cool air on her. Firefighters were asking the mother about possibly breaking a window to get to the child when an employee with Pop-A-Lock showed up and quickly unlocked the vehicle. Firefighters then took the child out and quickly checked her vitals and determined she was OK.

The mother was not cited because the incident was accidental. Karen Walsh, a family nurse practitioner, said that children left in a vehicle can suffer from hyperthermia, a condition where the body gets too hot, or from heat stroke. “They get red skin, rapid pulse and older children might complain about nausea and vomit,” Walsh said.

How quickly a child begins to show symptoms depends on three things: the temperature outside, the temperature inside the vehicle and how hydrated the child is to begin with. And with the recent string of triple-digit weather, it doesn’t take long for vehicles to get hot. “It can happen pretty quickly,” Walsh said.

With time a factor, the mother said she immediately called emergency personnel who in turn called Pop-A-Lock®.

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